After writing bestsellers about the military, the oil and gas industry and the state of democracy, Rachel Maddow is now turning to a history of the U.S. Justice Department, Crown, a division of Penguin Random House, said in an announcement Monday.
Crown said “Department of Fate” will be published Nov. 10, one week after this year’s midterm elections. The publisher also described the project as an examination of how DOJ has operated over its 150-year history, characterizing the book as a look at the department’s “triumphs and misdeeds.”
In a statement issued through Crown, Maddow tied the book’s focus on DOJ to broader questions about democratic governance. She said: “As goes DOJ, so goes the republic,” and added that “What DOJ chooses to pursue — and what it lets go — can determine the boundaries of our political rights, our economy, and the fundamental question of whether the protections written into our Constitution are just words, or real life.”
Crown said the book will offer more than a timeline, calling it “both a diagnosis and a prescription for the American institution.” The publisher said Maddow will examine the Justice Department’s record from early episodes following World War I through later periods shaped by shifting political and legal norms.
In its description of the scope, Crown said Maddow will cover “the riotous chaos of the Red Scare” after World War I. Crown also said the book will address “cabinet scandals that make Watergate look like Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” and will look at “the upending of a wide range of norms” during the second administration of President Donald Trump.
Crown’s announcement frames the book as a sustained analysis of how decisions inside DOJ have influenced what laws and constitutional protections mean in practice. With a publication date set for the week after the midterms, the book is positioned for release as Americans assess the post-election political environment.
While Maddow’s prior work has focused on other national institutions, this project shifts to the Justice Department’s role as a central mechanism of enforcement and legal interpretation. Crown’s description suggests the book will use that institutional history to connect DOJ priorities to the protections written into the Constitution and to the practical boundaries of political life.